Search Results

This panel discussion at CPAC in DC 2024 poses the question, “Would Moses Go to Harvard?”, as anti-semitic movements take over American universities. Josh Hammer, host of The Josh Hammer Show, moderates a panel discussion with Brooke Goldstein, founder of the Lawfare Project, and UC Santa Barbara sophomore and End Jew Hatred fellow Ephraim Shalunov on the rise of anti-semitism in America since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Shalunov shares shocking testimony of the violence and hatred he has encountered on his college campus. From an entire pro-Hamas protest to personal attacks to publicly hostile faculty, Shalunov has encountered many instances of bigotry. The Israel-Hamas war was really the catalyst for these waves of violent anti-semitism, but as Goldstein points out there has long been silence on Jewish rights despite the great involvement of Jews in all other civil rights movements. Now is the time to break the silence with movements like End Jew Hatred and by using the law to challenge the bigotry of Harvard and other higher education institutions and uphold Jewish civil rights. Shalunov summed up the current bleak situation, “It’s not safe to be a Jew at Harvard. It’s not safe to be a Jew anywhere in the Ivy League, and it’s not safe to be a Jew at any top university in America.” See more of the panel discussion on Rumble @CPAC .

CPAC rolled out the red carpet for the stars of the newest installment in the God’s Not Dead film series. On September 4, together with Great American Pure Flix, CPAC premiered the film, God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust, to an enthusiastic audience in Dallas, Texas.   Stars of the film, David A.R. White, Dean Cain, Isaiah Washington, Newsboys, and more walked the red carpet before remarks from David A.R. White and Matt and Mercedes Schlapp followed by a special screening.   God’s Not Dead: In God Trust follows a small-town pastor as he challenges the status quo of politics and puts God back in the public square. It’s a film that motivates and inspires Christians to share their faith and to get involved in their country’s future.   CPAC was honored to participate in the debut of such a powerful film. The God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust premiere was the second movie premiere CPAC has had the honor of hosting, and we are proud to continue to push back in the culture war and support a conservative film renaissance.   God’s Not Dead: In God Trust is in theaters starting September 12 & we need your help to keep it on the big screen. Tickets are on sale NOW & buying ahead of time lets theaters know that faith-based films are important! We’ll be seeing it on opening weekend as well… maybe even in a theater near you!   Find a theater near you at CPAC.org/GND .

Border security is a top issue in the 2024 election. Just last month in August, a gang of illegal immigrants from Venezuela took over an entire apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, collected rent, and threatened residents. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs Sergio de la Peña broke down all the problems, like this one, coming out of Biden and Harris’ open border policies.  As the incident in Aurora, Colorado demonstrates, border security is increasingly becoming a serious safety issue for American citizens. As Biden and Harris and their colleagues at the state level throw more money at illegal immigrants, border security is also becoming a financial issue.    The Left is not just allowing illegal immigrants, many of whom are gang members and known terrorists, to walk across the border, but are inviting them in and supplying them with free money, health services, and housing.   “If you take the number of dollars that illegal immigrants pay in taxes and then you subtract from that the services that people receive through the U.S. government, the delta is every one of those individuals costs the U.S. government $68,000,” said Peña. “So, do the math. We’ve got about somewhere between 11-12 million illegal aliens just under the Biden administration.”   The Left’s coddling of illegal immigrants is especially outraging to legal immigrants like Peña who waited a year in Mexico to immigrate to the U.S. legally and upon arriving received nothing from the federal government but only through his own hard work and determination, achieved the American Dream.   “There was [no government assistance], and you were expected to pick up your own tab. You were expected to pick yourself up by your bootstraps,” Peña said.    As more incidents like the one in Colorado occur and as more states offer better, taxpayer-funded services to illegal aliens than to their own citizens, the American public is waking up to the reality of the open border and are demanding the southern border be secured.   Watch Peña’s full commentary from this episode of America Uncanceled on social media @CPAC.

The Left just won’t quit. Special Counsel Jack Smith filed yet another indictment against President Donald J. Trump last week. It adds to the laundry list of attempts by the Left to silence him and eliminate him from the presidential race including the cases in New York, Georgia, Florida, and not to mention the mainstream media’s role in spreading false news and censoring conservative voices.   This new indictment appears to test the limits of the July Supreme Court ruling that granted immunity to presidents for their official acts. It’s a rehashing of the first one, including the same four felonies that accuse Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States and overturn the 2020 election results.  Moreover, it publicly displays the Left’s determination to eradicate a strong, formidable political opponent in any way they can.   We must Pray for President Trump and for him and our country to heal.  Tell President Trump you will always have his back at our  Action Center .

Amidst the antisemitic protests sweeping college campuses, a group of fraternity brothers at University of North Carolina garnered attention and respect for holding up the American flag, preventing it from hitting ground during one of the pro-Hamas protests. Editor-in-chief of The Washington Reporter Matthew Foldi attended a recent concert to celebrate these men, the flag, patriotism.   While at UNC, Foldi felt the pulse of the student body and found it largely characterized by patriotism.   “It was, ultimately, a reminder of the goodness of Americans in general, who shelled out half a million dollars to say to these kids, ‘Hey, what you did is noted and it is appreciated,’” said Foldi.   While on the show, Foldi also commented on Hamas’ murdering of six hostages, including Americans, over the weekend. Israel President Netanyahu is bearing the brunt of blame for the killing of these hostages. He is being accused of not doing enough to reach a deal with Hamas. Foldi, however, sets the record straight and exposes the weak policies of the Biden administration.   “It’s insane, obviously, to blame the people who were trying to rescue these hostages,” said Foldi of the accusations being thrown at Israel and Netanyahu. “If you take a step back and think about what [the Biden] administration is saying to Israel versus to Hamas and you didn’t know any better, you would not necessarily think that we’re on the side of our closest ally, and you would think we are being way too gracious towards a U.S. designated terrorist organization, which ultimately, has sole responsibility for illegally holding these hostages for almost an entire calendar year at this point.”  Watch all of Foldi’s commentary on the war in Israel as well as President Trump’s appearance at the Abbey Gate ceremony on CPAC+.

The increasingly radical nature of the Democrat Party forced former Congresswoman and author of new book, “For Love of Country”, Tulsi Gabbard, to depart the Democrat Party, and now, she expresses her support for President Donald Trump and comments on the state of American politics at CPAC in DC 2024. The Left has adopted increasingly radical views and is attempting to eliminate anyone who disagrees. The multiple ongoing legal battles against President Donald Trump and the attempts to take him off the ballot in the 2024 election are evidence of the Left’s dictatorial methods to abolish democracy and freedom and remove political opponents. “They are waging a multi-front battle and they will stop at nothing until they’re successful,” said Gabbard. “A very dangerous precedent is being set. Our democratic republic is being destroyed by the permanent Washington elite, and they are people in both political parties who truly believe they, and not the American people, have the right to decide who should be our president.” Hear Gabbard’s full take on the Democrat Party and the 2024 election on Rumble @CPAC .

On September 4 in Dallas, Texas, CPAC will be hosting a red carpet premiere of the new film, God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.   The fifth installment in the God’s Not Dead franchise, God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust explores the poignant and well-timed theme of the intersection of faith and politics. It tells the story of one small town pastor’s mission to restore God in the public square.   The red carpet premiere will feature appearances from special guests, Isaiah Washington, Dean Cain, David A.R. White, and more.   God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust debuts in theaters on September 12. Join CPAC for a first look at the movie on September 4 in Dallas, Texas by registering at CPAC.org/GND .

by Karan Gupta, CPAC Foundation Legal Fellow The FAA proposed a new rule that would “require U.S. and foreign air carriers to seat children aged 13 and under adjacent to at least one accompanying adult at no additional cost beyond the fare.” This part of the administration’s war on so called ‘junk fees.’ Banning Price Unbundling Banning price unbundling would hurt poor consumers and curtail their access to services. Currently, domestic airlines charge a separate price for ‘nonessential services’ like food or checked in baggage on short flights. This lets the airline increase its profits and reduces costs for the poor as they are now offered ‘cheaper basic ticket prices.’ Biden’s ban would push poor individuals out of the market entirely and compel individuals to pay for services they don’t want or need. There is no explicit charge for “sitting next to your child on an air flight” or “a sitting with your kid fee.” However, if families want to guarantee that they will get seats together, they usually have to buy tickets that permit advanced seat selection, ‘pay for seat selection separately’ or simply hope that there are ‘adjacent seats available after check-in.’ The cheapest tickets/fares, usually do not allow seat selection. Banning this ‘fee’ would mean compelling airlines to give preferential treatment to customers who have children younger than 13 for free. Structuring fees in this manner, provides more opportunities for profit. This allows airlines to charge lower basic airfares. Bureau of Transportation statistics show that revenue from basic airfares has dropped from 88.5% in 1990 to 73.2% of domestic airline revenue. ‘This pricing flexibility allows airlines to run more routes at lower basic prices.’ According to a 2022 Airlines for America survey, this is the most important thing for passengers. The effect of this policy is to force other passengers to subsidize families with kids as there would be higher basic fares for everyone, in order to make up for the lost revenue. This would be a redistribution of income from one group to another. The policy would entail higher basic fares for passengers, damage to ultra-low-cost airlines. Ultra-low-cost airlines help keep fares in the industry low by “stripping out perks and using fee revenues to ‘top-up'. Unbundling, gives airlines the change to make a profit on more flights and this spurs them to fly more flights which indirectly boosts competition. This is far from the only time the Biden administration has sought to use government to use what effectively amounts to price controls. It has previously proposed cracking down on ‘junk fees’ in other areas such as banking. Banning Termination Fees Banning termination fees would harm credit-constrained consumers. These fees enable telecom companies to charge lower upfront prices than they otherwise would and provide more revenue certainty for businesses to support large investments. This price structuring is also beneficial to liquidity constrained individuals who “enjoy reasonable future credit prospects.” This is because it enables them to access products without taking bank loans or ‘resorting’ to credit cards. The fee helps to “internalize the risk of nonpayment”. Outlawing these fees would cause ‘higher front-loaded prices, less certain revenue for businesses, and higher net prices in lieu of businesses bearing more risk associated with flaky customers.’ Banning Partitioned Pricing Partitioning or ‘breaking a total bill into components’ can gibe consumer’s useful information. For instance, restaurants ‘sometimes include surcharges on bills to reflect large local minimum wage rises.’ This might possibly indicate to consumers that high prices are not because of greed but because of government interference in the market. Limiting Credit Card Late Fees The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule which capped credit-card late fees at $8, this is less than 25% of the typical past-due charge. According to a Wall Street Journal article: “Fifteen years ago, Democrats in Congress authorized financial regulators to limit credit-card late fees at a sum that is “reasonable and proportional” to a borrower’s violation. The Federal Reserve in 2010 capped penalties at $25 ($35 for repeat tardy payments), which are adjusted for inflation. The maximum penalty is now $41.” The CFPB’s rule slashes the cap to $8 and eliminates the annual inflation adjustment. The CFPB admits that the effect of lower penalties might be to increase the number of borrowers who pay late and as a result incur higher “interest charges, penalty rates, credit reporting, and the loss of a grace period.” This would increase the difficulty of qualifying for an auto loan or mortgage. The agency also admits that credit-card issuers might raise interest rates, reduce rewards, and “increase minimum payment amounts or adjust credit limits to reduce credit risk associated with consumers who make late payments. Since some states cap credit card interest rates “some consumers’ access to credit could fall.” This rule is coming at a time when credit-card delinquencies are at their highest level in more than ten years. “Issuers are tightening credit to reduce charge-offs. The rule could force more borrowers to turn to higher-cost credit such as payday loans. Businesses that contract with banks to offer credit cards will also take a hit. Late fees account for between 14% and 30% of department store credit-card revenue. They’ll have to offset the rule’s impact somehow, perhaps with higher prices.” Restricting late fees on credit cards would be restricting the price of credit. Mandating price controls to prohibit prices from rising will limit the supply of the good in question.’ If the intent is to make credit more affordable, it will not just not work, it will have the opposite effect. Restricting fees “will likely lead to prices rising in other financial services or lenders simply leaving the market.” According to Thomas P. Vartanian and William M. Isaac , ‘One obvious reaction to [a cap on fees] would be to increase credit-card interest rates. But increasing lending interest rates disproportionately harms lower-income borrowers who may no longer qualify for loans that require a higher income to carry a higher monthly payment. Borrowers with lower credit scores also would have a harder time obtaining a loan when the amount of lendable funds shrinks because bank revenue, no longer supplemented by late fees, would get smaller. Other possible moves reacting to such a cap would be a decrease in interest rates paid to bank depositors or the imposition of additional fees on other financial products or services. When those don’t work, lenders simply exit a particular market, reducing the consumer credit available to borrowers with lesser credit histories.’ Limiting Overdraft and Interchange Fees The damage will be supplemented by the proposal to restrict bank overdraft fees to $3. When a customer makes a payment or withdraws from his account in excess of the available balance, a bank will let this transaction go through if you have opted for the overdraft protection service. The customer has to pay the overdrawn amount and an overdraft fee. This cap might compel banks to raise other charges such as ‘non-sufficient fund fees’ when debit-card purchases and ATM withdrawals that ‘overdraft accounts’ are rejected. Consequently, the agency proposed banning these also. The administration is playing ‘whack-a-bank’, targeting a particular revenue stream and then hitting another revenue stream when it arises. Such price controls are detrimental to consumers who lose out as evidenced from previous cases. For instance, the Durbin amendment to Dodd-Frank instructed the Ded ‘to limit fees charged to retailers for debit-card processing. According to a 2017 Federal Reserve staff study, the consequence of this was that “larger banks reduced free checking and raised minimum balance requirements.” Small banks to whom the cap did not apply, also limited free checking because they now had less competition to compete with. Instead of lowering prices, the savings went into the pocket of retailers. The Fed also proposed a rule that would lower the maximum debit interchange fee banks can charge merchants from 24.5 cents to 17.7 cents on a $50 debit transaction. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said “one consequence may be that banks discontinue their lowest-margin products” which aimed to increase the banking access of lower income Americans. Congressman Andy Barr said, “All Americans should be outraged that the cost of credit will skyrocket and access to it will be meaningfully restricted in the name of politics…The credit card late fee rule punishes borrowers who pay on time to subsidize those who don’t.”

President of Kaleido, Karola de la Cuesta sat down with Mercedes Schlapp to discuss the new book sharing Cuesta’s inspirational story from surviving human trafficking to lifting up other victims.   From the ages of eight to thirteen, Cuesta, her sisters, and forty other victims were groomed by a high-profile singer in Mexico for labor exploitation, tax evasion, and sex slavery. She credits God for her survival and rescue as her rescue came as an answer to a prayer, but it came after seventeen long years in human trafficking.   The book titled, “Faith, Love, and Human Trafficking”, details her story to uplift others and inspire others to take action to end human trafficking and support victims.   “I tried to make it as easy and comfortable to read as possible because I know this is a scary subject, and that is one of the biggest obstacles we face today that we are afraid of it, and I invite you to take another approach to human trafficking, just with a position of power and read and learn,” said Cuesta.   Cuesta invites others to transform her horrific experience into good. Through her relationship with Rosi Orozco, Cuesta was able to heal from her experience and help other victims.   Cuesta explained, “My story, instead of being a sad story, is a story that helps me and helps others to fight human trafficking and prevent human trafficking.”  Watch the full conversation with Cuesta on CPAC+.

CPAC Mexico returned to Mexico City for the second ever CPAC Mexico on Saturday, August 24. The event featured leaders from Mexico, the United States, and South and Central America. The pressing issues of border security, life, human trafficking, and national sovereignty that are affecting the entire region from the United States to Argentina were at the forefront of the conference.   Freedom fighters including President of CPAC Mexico Eduardo Verástegui, Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, Javier Milei, Ted Cruz, and Ric Grenell addressed these issues to the audience of grassroots conservatives.  At the conference, Verástegui offered words of encouragement for conservatives in Mexico, "We are the majority, we are organizing ourselves, we are a movement that fights for the homeland, life, family and fundamental freedoms."  CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp echoed Verástegui’s optimism and determination, “There is a virus of Marxism that is inundating America, know that in a few weeks Donald Trump will win. We do not need the government controlling our families.”  Following the conference, the American CPAC delegation continued their advocacy for life and human dignity with a special visit to Girlstown in Chalco, Mexico, a school operated by religious sisters for the care and education of underprivileged girls as well as human trafficking victims in the area.   See more from the American CPAC delegation at CPAC Mexico 2024 on social media @CPAC, @mschlapp, and @mercedesschlapp.

How do we end the China threat? Former Deputy National Security Advisor to the President K.T. McFarland, CPAC board member Gordon Chang, and Chairman and co-founder of Prague Security Studies Institute Roger Robinson Jr. have the answer at their panel discussion at CPAC in DC 2024.   The panelists agree ending the China threat begins with curbing all economic entwinement with China and ramping up domestic manufacturing in the United States.   “It’s not just investment into Chinese military-linked companies. Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, has a doctrine of military-civil fusion, which means that every investment into a private Chinese company gets pipelined to the Chinese military if the military wants it,” explained Chang.    With that in mind, the energy industry is a good place to start to put a significant dent in China’s and its allies’ military funding.   America is uniquely rich in natural energy resources, which can and should be used to our advantage as they were by Ronald Reagan in the Cold War to produce cheap, clean energy and hurt China’s energy business.   “We had a tremendous amount of effort expended in terms of getting oil prices lower,” Robinson recalled of Reagan’s effective energy policy. He emphasized the financial impact and how it impedes the strengthening of our foes,“It is then and now about the money.”  Energy is a good place to start but America will need to go further to protest China’s military threat and human rights violations. Wall Street and big corporate need to get on board and stop investing in Chinese companies and relying on China’s manufacturing. Average Americans also need to get involved and avoid Chinese companies that steal their information and spy on them.   McFarland summarized the ideal American strategy in just two points, “We should do two things. Do you have TikTok on your phones or do your kids? Get rid of it because they’re spying on you even when you’re fast asleep. Number two: elect Donald Trump because you don’t have to worry about all the details of this. He’ll deal with it for you.”  Watch the full conversation on Rumble @CPAC, and make plans to see more great panels at CPAC in DC 2024 at CPAC.org/2025 .

CPAC Mexico returns this year to Mexico City with speeches from Javier Milei, Eduardo Verástegui, Kari Lake, Tulsi Gabbard, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, Sara Carter, Dr. Robert Malone, and more.  On August 24, conservatives from around the world will flock to Mexico City to advocate for freedom in Mexico and worldwide. Since 2022, CPAC Mexico has been a beacon of hope for conservatives in Latin America. The conference tackles tough issues with a special emphasis on human trafficking for its particular impact on the people of Mexico, South and Central America, and the United States.   With the conservative movement’s growth in Latin America in the last two years, this year’s conference is set to be especially impactful for conservatives and freedom in the region.   Follow @CPAC, @mschlapp, and @mercedesschlapp on social media for more updates throughout the conference.